


Break and Enter

by myth_taken



Series: Faith meets Shaw [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 07:43:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10849527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myth_taken/pseuds/myth_taken
Summary: “New number. Faith Lehane. High school dropout, seems to be part of an international crime organization.”--Shaw gets a mission to rescue Faith Lehane. She winds up going above and beyond the call of duty.





	Break and Enter

**Author's Note:**

> buffy went off netflix so i watched the entirety of person of interest because i heard amy acker played a wlw... i'm very annoyed about gay amy acker's end but at least i got the idea for this fic right  
> if you think the title means anything you're wrong it just sounds cool  
> this is set in a weird au where faith is in new york and somehow the potential thing is more of a Thing than it was in canon. faith hasn't gone west yet obviously. maybe she will later (i want to get more buffyverse characters in here-- imagine what willow could learn from root and finch)

Sameen’s cell phone rang. She sighed and tapped her ear. “New number?”

Finch’s voice was clear through her earpiece. “New number. Faith Lehane. High school dropout, seems to be part of an international crime organization.”

“Which one?” Sameen asked.

“The Slayers,” Finch said. “They aren’t usually violent, but they can hold their own. Most of their disputes are territorial, and they tend to attract teenage girls. Miss Lehane seems to be in a position of authority within the organization, although it’s unclear as to why, since she is fairly new.”

“I think you’re the perfect candidate to find out. Check your texts.”

Sameen raised her phone. Sure enough, information on the girl appeared.

“I’m on it,” she said, beginning to swipe through the pictures. Their new number was seventeen, a bit wild, had dropped out of high school after her mother died… there wasn’t much information about the gang, but what there was seemed suspicious. They weren’t well-known among other organizations, but they somehow managed to be international. They hadn’t actually done a lot of crime, and what they had done amounted largely to breaking and entering-- nothing big. Something was definitely up.

Whatever it was, Sameen was going to find out. 

She started by going to Faith’s apartment. It was a run-down little hole in the wall in a pretty bad part of town-- it was clear that Faith had never been able to afford luxury. 

“She’s not in the gang for the money,” Sameen murmured to Finch. 

“Keep looking, Miss Shaw. I suspect you will find something.”

Sameen looked around. “Yup. Big bag in the corner.” Peeking inside the bag, she whistled. “Girl likes her weapons. I’ve got stakes, crossbows, axes… no guns, though. She killing vampires?”

“Some people prefer to use methods you might find strange, Miss Shaw.”

Sameen rolled her eyes. “Whatever. The point is, there’s no way this is just for self-defense.”

Just then, footsteps sounded outside. Sameen looked around for somewhere to go, but there was nowhere. She couldn’t get out her gun-- this girl could be a victim for all she knew. She just stood there, waiting for the door to open.

It did. Faith Lehane walked in, dropping a bag exactly like the one Shaw had just opened, and was in the process of collapsing against a wall when she saw Sameen. 

Instantly, she had jumped up and pulled a crossbow from her bag. “Who are you?”

“My name is Sameen Shaw. I have reason to believe you’re in danger.”

Faith laughed. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Feel like telling me why you keep crossbows in your apartment?”

“Dangerous world,” Faith said. “Got to defend myself somehow.”

“Why not guns?”

“No one expects a crossbow.”

Sameen almost cracked a smile at that one. “Can you tell me about the Slayers?”

Instantly, Faith’s eyes narrowed, and she tightened her grip on the crossbow. “What do you want to know about the Slayer?”

“More than I know now.”

“Well, what do you know now?”

“That you’re an international crime organization that somehow doesn’t do any crime. That you’ve been involved in breaking and entering cases but never theft or murder. That somehow, you’ve managed to get by this long using nothing but wooden stakes and crossbows.” Sameen stepped forward, putting her hand on her gun. “Either you’re all fighting vampires, or there’s something serious going on.”

“Can’t we have both?” Faith asked. “Look, Sammy, I appreciate your concern, but I was kind of looking for some time to be on my own.”

“Look, Faith, if you’re in danger, I can help.”

“Not with my kind of danger, you can’t,” Faith said. “You’re no Potential. You’re too old.”

“Not that old,” Sameen said.

Faith shrugged. “Too old to be a Slayer. Or a Potential.”

“That what you call your new recruits?”

Faith looked like she was about to answer, but she stopped herself. “Here’s the thing, Sammy. You don’t know the first thing about me, or about my life. You don’t know what I go through every single day. You don’t know my destiny, and you don’t know how hard I’ve tried to avoid it. So just leave me alone, okay?”

Sameen raised her hands. “All right, I’ll go.”

She walked out the door, painfully aware of Faith’s crossbow still trained on her. 

“Seems like this girl’s got some issues,” she said to Finch. “Hallucinations, maybe?”

“And yet her story checks with that of the organization,” Finch told her. “I’ve been doing some digging. If you look hard enough, you can find stories about a girl who kills vampires and demons going back generations. Usually, it’s just the one, but it seems like there is a way to tell which girls will become the one.”

Sameen leaned against the wall outside Faith’s building. “Potentials.”

“Yes, exactly. Miss Lehane is currently the Slayer, but she leads a band of Potentials. Apparently they had a different leader when Miss Lehane joined, but that girl relinquished her authority when Miss Lehane was given the job of Slayer. It is unclear whether the vampires and demons here are code words, but they are very much real, at least to the Slayers.”

Sameen thought for a moment.

“Well, if I can believe in AI superintelligences controlling the world, I can believe in anything.”

“Excellent, Miss Shaw. Keep watch on Faith, all right?”

“Already with you there, Finch.” Sameen tapped her ear to break the connection. It was getting dark, but if Faith was killing real vampires, she likely did most of her work at night. 

Sameen crossed the street to a dilapidated coffee shop. If she was going to tail a girl who killed demons for a living, she was going to do it while caffeinated. 

Twenty minutes later, Sameen saw Faith leave her building from the coffee shop window. Sameen dumped her drink and followed, trying to access Faith’s phone as she walked. She was having trouble-- Faith had a phone, but it was resisting the bluejack, and not in a way Sameen was used to. Whatever was going on was making Sameen’s phone glow blue, and not just from the screen, so Sameen stopped her efforts for fear of being noticed and called up Finch instead.

“Can’t get into her phone. Something weird’s going on.”

“Well, Miss Shaw,” Harold’s voice said, “perhaps if vampires are real, magic is as well.”

“Are you saying Faith put a spell on her cell phone?”

“I’m saying that the Slayers seem to have resources beyond just teenagers with superstrength.”

Sameen sighed. “Of course.”

A moment later, Faith turned into a club. Sameen stood outside for a moment.

“Finch? I don’t think she’s out to kill vampires. She just went into a nightclub. I’m going in.”

Not bothering to wait for a response, Sameen pushed through the doors.

Inside was a mess of bright lights and moving bodies. Sameen had never been one for this scene; she was too still, too silent. Still, she cast her eyes around, soon locating Faith on the dance floor, surrounded by two men and a woman, all vying for her attention.

“Girl’s a crazy good dancer. Might get her hurt.”

As Sameen watched, Faith turned her head, zeroing in on another dancer. She pulled the dancer roughly by the elbow down a corridor. Sameen pushed through the crowd to get a closer look. She heard the sounds of a fight coming from the corridor, and she broke into a full sprint just in time to see Faith stab a guy through the heart with one of her stakes.

Sameen’s first instinct was to stop her, but it was too late, and before Sameen could say anything, the guy had turned into dust.

“That a vampire?” Sameen asked.

“You again?” Faith asked. “Yeah, that was a vampire. Until I kicked his ass. I don’t need your help.”

Just then, a group of giant men came into the corridor. They bore down on Faith, threat in their eyes, and Sameen whipped out her gun.

“Thought we might find you here,” one of them growled.

“You haven’t paid us back,” another agreed.

Faith raised up her hands, dropping her stake. “Come on, boys. Can’t you see we’re all the same in the end?” 

The men continued to glare at her.

“Fine. We’ll do it the hard way.” And suddenly, Faith launched herself at the men, and Sameen understood:  _ this  _ was the threat. These men intended to kill Faith, and she was just going to throw herself at them.

Sameen took out her gun and fired a shot into the air. The men stopped fighting Faith and turned to face Sameen.

“How much does she owe you?” Sameen asked.

“Cost of a pretty nice fake ID,” one of the men shot back.

Sameen glanced at Faith. The girl’s fists were still up, but they were shaking. Sameen recognized Faith’s attempts at looking tough, but she could tell: Faith was pretty damn near broken. She didn’t  _ want  _ to fight this fight.

Not wanting to live was one of the most effective ways of dying. Sameen knew that firsthand.

“Tell you what,” Sameen said, reaching into her pocket with her free hand, “I’ve been saving some money for a rainy day.” She stored her gun and fished out a few bills. Thanks to her job as a professional getaway driver and her hobbies of not needing much to get by, she had quite a bit stashed away in her wallet, and she could spare a bit to help a girl in need. People said she didn’t have feelings, but she still knew when someone needed help. 

The men melted away, and Sameen turned to Faith. “You’re coming with me.”

“What? Not a chance,” Faith scoffed. 

“You want to go back to your no-bedroom apartment?” Sameen asked. “Come on. You can have my bed. I know somebody who’ll let me sleep in hers if I ask nicely.”

“I don’t want to be any trouble,” Faith protested, but the protest was weak. Sameen had her, and she knew it.

“Let’s go back and get your weapons,” Sameen said. “I’ll call my friend and let her know you’re coming.”

“Are you sure this is wise, Miss Shaw?” Harold was squacking in her earpiece.

“Never sure, Mister Finch,” Sameen muttered. “Girl needs help. We help people. And it’s not your room I’m volunteering.” She terminated the connection with Harold and called up Root, who answered after a single ring. 

“Hey there, Sameen.”

“Hey, Root. I need a favor.”

“Anything for you, sweetie.” 

Sameen rolled her eyes. “I have a girl who needs a place to sleep tonight. She’s not in danger anymore. I was going to give her my room. You mind if I take your floor?”

“Wouldn’t mind if you took my bed, Sameen.” 

“We’ll see, Root. Be there soon.” 

Sameen ended the call with Root. Faith was walking slightly in front of her, so Sameen took a few steps to catch up. “Good news, kid. You’ve got a place to stay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Look. I don’t have a huge personal attachment to my room, and the woman I just called would be more than happy to have me stay in hers for the rest of our lives, which are probably going to be pretty short.”

“You too, huh?”

Sameen shrugged. “On the bright side, if I die, you can have my stuff.”

Faith laughed. She was quiet for a moment, then came back with, “You like this girl?”

“I don’t like anybody.”

Sameen wasn’t looking, but she could hear Faith’s eye roll in her response.“Fine. You want to have sex with this girl? You get a good down-low tingle when you think of her?”

“We’re at your apartment.” 

“Nice subject change.” Faith dropped it, though, and ran into the building. A couple of minutes later, she was out, holding her two weapon bags.

“Don’t you have clothes?”

“It’s all in the bags,” Faith promised. “I don’t leave my stuff at my place.”

“Your choice. Let’s go.” 

They took the bus back to the old subway station, where Sameen showed Faith into her room. 

“Careful with my stuff,” she said. “Some of it’s dangerous. You seem like you can handle yourself. My coworkers are probably going to want to meet you sooner or later. If a broody guy knocks on your door, don’t mess with him.”

“You think I can’t take him?” Faith asked.

Sameen looked at her for a moment. “Never mind. Definitely mess with him. It’d be funny to see his ass kicked by a seventeen-year-old.” She paused. “Hey, what are your thoughts on dogs?”

**Author's Note:**

> hopefully i'll continue this. i'm very invested in the idea of shaw as a mentor figure for faith (although i'm realizing faith is also very similar to root in many important ways and in fact has all the traits one would expect from their child so that's fun)
> 
> edit: i'm going to make this a series, not a chaptered work, so i can write it out of order and skip time and stuff and it'll still make sense.


End file.
